In New Hampshire, the moderator is the principal
election official in a ward, responsible for running the polling
place, supervising the ballot-counting process, and so forth. It
pays $230 per election, though city law specifies
(§
30.09) that if you skip the training session, they dock half the
pay. It has no other powers or duties.

I am a lawyer
and law
professor at UNH who has volunteered as a poll worker or poll
monitor since 2004. I’ve lived in Ward 3 since 2014. I worked
at the same-day voter-registration table during the 2016 general
election and I have volunteered during several other elections in
Ward 3. I’ve worked at enough different polling places over
the years that I’ve seen what works well—friendly,
capable poll workers who run a well-organized polling place that
gets people in and out so everyone can vote quickly and
efficiently—and what doesn’t.

Ward 3’s current moderator, Gail Athas,
isn’t running for reelection. A few people suggested I might
do a good job as moderator, and I agreed to run so I could help make
voting as easy and quick as possible for everyone in Ward 3.